Automatic circuit-breaker.



PATENTED MAY 15, 1906.

D. HOYEM.

AUTOMATIC CIRCUIT BRBAKER.

APPLICATION FILED 0CT.24,1904.

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N o. 820,496. PATENTED MAY 15, 1906. D. HOYEM.

AUTOMATIC CIRCUIT BREAKER.

APPLICATION FILED OCT-24,1904.

a SHEETS-SHEET 2.

WIT/VESSES: INVENTOR MM Arron/vir vNo. 820,496. PATENTED MAY 15, 1906. D. HOYEM.

AUTOMATIC CIRCUIT BREAKER.

APPLICATION FILED oc'r.24,19o4.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

I TEF@ WITH/8858: INI/ENTOR NTED STATES PATENT OFFI'OE.

DAG HOYEM, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

AUTOMATIC ClFCUlT-BFREAKEF'! Application tiled October 24, 1904. Serial No. 229.874.

To @ZZ 1.071.071?, 2125 nwty concern:

Beit known that I, DAG HOYEM, a subject of the King of Sweden and Norway, and a resident of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, (whose post-office address is 89 First Place,) have invented cer tain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Circuit-Breakers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the construction of electric switches or circuit-breakers, and is primarily designed for use in those forms of switch that contain a toggle which is straightened to close and hold the switch in closed position and that is automatically bent or rneed to open the switch.

The object of the invention is to so construct the apparatus that it shall be sensitive and at the same time more positive in its action than the forms of apparatus previously employed ;v and to this end the invention consists in the combination, with the toggle, of a spring mounted on a swinging yoke or other suitable support normally held by a detent in ineffective position and means for releasing said support to allow the same to swing or turn to position where the spring will act effectively and knee or bend the toggle, so as to permit the switch to open.

The invention consists also in the novel combination of devices and the details of construction more particularly hereinafter described and claimed.

The invention is useful for switches either manually or automatically controlled, but will be described as carried out with a switch that operates automatically on change of load and by means of an electromagnet or other device responsive to changes in the flow of an electric current and connected with the means for releasing the mechanism of the switch.

In the accompanying drawings, Fi ure 1 is a side elevation of an apparatus em odying the invention. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the apparatus. Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 1, but with the switch in open position.

1 indicates the base of the mechanism, and 2 2 the electric terminals bridged for the purpose of closing the circuit by bridge-piece 3, of conducting material, consisting, preferably, of laminated copper suitably fastened in the head of a slide 4. The slide 4 works in a line parallel lto the base l and is guided in any suitable manner--as, for instance, by pins 8,

Speccaton of Letters Patent.

'atented May 15, 1906.

which project laterally from standards 9 through elongated slots in the side members of the slide.

Connected directly to the slide is a toggle 10 10, the joint of knee of which is indicated at 12. One member l0 is pivotally connected at 13 to a projection from the slide near its upper end, and the lower member 10 is pivotally mounted on a fixed support consisting, for instance, of the pin or pins 8. restoring knob or handle 1 1, connected to the toggle near its knee, serves to straighten the same and lift the slide so as to close the switch after the automatic action. The knee of the toggle is bent outward away from the base 1 to allow or cause the slide to recede by the action of gravity assisted by the spring of the bridge-piece 3 or other spring. The bending of the toggle is produced by a spring 14, connected to one member of the toggleas, for instance, to member 10-and so mounted in a suitable swinging frame or support that normally, or when the switch is closed, the line of strain of the spring shall be in such a direction as to keep the toggle straightened, or nearly in such direction. Said frame or support, however, normally tends to swing or turn in a direction to change the line of strain of the spring and permit it to act forcibly to knee the toggle, but is held from so turning by a suitable detent 21, which may be mounted on the sli de or in any other suitable position and be operated by any desired means.

The swinging frame or support for the spring may consist of a pivoted yoke or stirrup 19, pivoted at 20 on a standard rising from the base 1. The spring 14 is normally compressed between the step of the stirrup and a head 16, which is guided by any suitable 9 means-as, for instance, by a rod or bar 22, (see Fig. 2,) which rises from the frame and normally engages the detent 21, so that the frame is prevented from swinging in a direction to carry the lower end of the spring inward and the upper end with the head 16 outward away from the base, thereby changing the line of action or stress of the spring. Connection between the spring 14 and the toggle may be made in any suitable way, but pre erably by links 15, pivotally connected at one end to the head 16 and at the other to arms 18, extending from the two branches of the upper member 10 of the toggle.

In the position of the parts shown in full IOO TIO

lines, Fig. 1, the line of strain of the spring 14 being to the inside of the line connecting the pivot of member and the pivotal point of connection of' links 15 with said member, the toggle will be held straightened or in position to keep the switch closed. The tendency of the upper end ofthe spring and the rod or bar 22 to swing outwardly may be provided by any desired means-as, for instance, by the strain of the spring itself. For this purpose the parts may be so organized or arranged that the axis of the spring or its direction of strain or pressure in the frame 19 shall be at a slight angle to the line connecting the pivots for the upper end of the links 15 with the pivots joining said links to the normally stationary arms 1S. Under these conditions and as will be obvious there is a tendency of the upper end of the links and the connected spring and frame to swing outwardly.

When the detent 21 releases the frame or support for the spring, the upper end of said spring with the head 16 swings outward and brings the'line of strain across the line connecting the pivot of member 10 and the pivotal connection of links 15 with said member, so that the spring is thereby thrown into effective position for kneeing or bending the toggle, such strain becoming more and more eri'ective as the upper end of the spring swings outwardly and downwardly to bring the line of strain toward the horizontal line. This permits the switch to open in obvious manner.

For the purpose of assisting in the quick and effective operation of the switch I provide supplemental means for assisting in throwing the frame and spring 19 into position for most e'i'iicient operation upon the toggle. This means consists of a spring or springs so applied to the frame or stirrup that it will assist in moving or turning the Ytrame as soon as the latter has been permit- ,ted to move suiiiciently to begin to act in a manner to knee or bend the toggle.

Pivotally connected with the two sides of stirrup 19 at lateral projections 19 thereon are pins or rods 23, surrounding which are springs 24, compressed between the pivotal point of connection and the base of a yoke or stirrup 25, through which the headed pins or rods 23 pass. Said yoke or stirrup has suitable lateral projections or pins 26 adapted to be engaged and lifted by arms 27, projecting from the manually-operated member 10 of the switch. These arms are notched at 27/, where they engage said pins and lift said pins, by doing which and thus raising the yoke 25 they put the springs 24 under compression, and the latter in turn act on projections 19. Vhen the switch is closed and in the normal position, (shown in Fig. 1 these springs act directly in line with the pivotal points of support of the frame or to one side thereof and do not act forcibly to turn the lower end. ol the stirrup or frame inward; but as soon as the frame turns slightly, being released by the detent, said springs act on a line to the inside of the pivotal points of support of said frame and tend to swing the lower end thereof inwardly and the upper end outwardly. This throws the upper end of the spring 14 quickly outward and downward into position for most eiiicient operation through links 15 upon the toO'gle.

tI/Vhen it is desired to operate the detent 21 by an electromagnet, the said electromagnet may, if desired, be mounted upon the switchslide, and the armature 5 of said magnet may be attached in any suitable way to the detent-lever. Said detent-lever consists, preferably, of a frame the sides of which are pivoted on the switch-slide 4. To the upper crossrail of said frame armature 5 is connected, while the lower cross-rail stands normally in position to be engaged by the extremity ol a bar or rod 22, which passes upward through the spring 14 and head 16 'from the step ol the stirrup 19, which sustains the lower' end of the spring. While armature 5 may be in any magnetic field, I prefer to produce said iield by the current in the bridge-piece 3. For the strongest eilects it is well to employ a sleeve or coll ar of magnetic material surrounding the said current-carrying member 3 of the switch and locate the armature 5 in a gap in said sleeve. Said sleeve, in eilect, then. comprises the armature 5 and the yoke 6, of magnetic material, exten ding around the remaining portion of the current-carrying member 3. Located on yoke 6 or in other position is an adjustable back-stop 7 for said armature. My invention, however, is not limited to any particular means for operating the detent 21.

What I claim as my invention is- 1. In an electric switch or circuit-breaker, the combination with a toggle for holding the switch closed, or' a swinging frame connected with said toggle, a spring connected to said frame, means Yfor normally holding said Vtrame in position where the line of strain ol" the spring will be ineffective to knee the toggle and means 'for releasing the frame to permit it to turn in a direction to change the direction oi' the line of strain of the spring so that it will knee or bend the toggle.

2. In an electric switch or circuit-breaker, the combination of a toggle for holding the switch closed, a swinging frame, a spring mounted thereon, links connecting said frame and toggle and means for swinging the frame to bring the line of strain of the spring across the line connecting the pivotal point of a toggle member and the pivotal point of connection of said links with said member.

3. In an electric switch or circuit-breaker, the combination of a toggle for holding the switch, closed, a swinging frame, a spring IIO mounted thereon, links connecting the spring and toggle and a detent normally holding the frame in position to render the spring ineffective and prevent it from turning to position to knee or bend the toggle.

4. In an electric switch or circuit-breaker, the combination of a toggle for holding the switch closed, a pivoted frame, a spring mounted thereon and connected with the toggle, a detent for holding the Jframe in ineffective position and means connected with the toggle for assisting to swing the frame into effective position.

5. In an electric switch or circuit-breaker, the combination of a switch-carrying slide, a toggle for holding the slide in circuit-closing position, a swinging frame carrying an actuating spring connected with the toggle through suitable links, and a spring interposed between a member of the toggle and said frame and acting thereon in a manner to swing saidframe into position for efficient operation of the toggleeactuating spring.

6. In an electric switch or circuit-breaker, the combination of a toggle for holding the switch closed, a slide connected to said toggle, a spring, links connecting the spring and toggle, means for causing the end of the spring, which is connected to the toggle to swing outward away from the base on which the parts are mounted and a detent responsive to changes of load for normally holding the spring against swinging movement.

7. In an electric switch or circuit-breaker, the combination of a toggle for holding the switch closed, a detent-controlled swinging Jframe, a spring mounted on said frame and connected with the toggle so as to tend to knee or bend the same when the frame swings, and a spring for swinging the frame into position for el-Iicient operation of the toggle-actu-l ating spring.

8. In an electric switch or circuit-breaker, the combination with a detent-controlled actuating mechanism normally held by said detent in ineffective position for opening the switch, manual devices vfor restoring the switch to closed position, a supplemental spring, adapted to operate on the actuating mechanism to assist in throwing the same into position for efficient operation, and means connected with the manual restoring devices for putting said spring into condition for operation in the act of closing the switch.

Signed at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, this 10th day of October, A. D. 1904.

DAG HOYEM.

Witnesses:

C. F. TIsoHNER, Jr., A. FRANKENTHALER, 

